According to authorities, the man who was observed pacing the hallways of a Valley Village apartment complex prior to allegedly killing a resident in April has been connected to another heinous murder in 2022 in which the body of an elderly woman was set on fire.
Since being apprehended in May and accused of murder in connection with the death of Valley Village resident Menashe Hidra inside his fifth-floor apartment, 27-year-old Erick Escamilla has been detained. Prosecutors in Los Angeles County changed their case against Escamilla on Monday, adding a second murder charge for the 2022 killing of Ok Ja Kim.
“I can honestly say that in my entire career, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a senseless and brutal act of murder,” Det. Sharon Kim told reporters in 2022 after working in homicide for many years and researching violent crime for even longer.
Police said that Ok Ja Kim, 81, was discovered on the floor of her bedroom on Martha Street in Woodland Hills, partially concealed beneath her bed, semi-charred, comatose, and not breathing. According to the authorities, she had been strangled and had been injured by blunt and sharp objects. There were numerous indications of arson in the house.
Prosecutors said in their criminal complaint on Monday that Escamilla then stabbed a guy during an attempted steal approximately three weeks later. It was unclear at first how authorities connected Escamilla to the crimes.
According to LAPD Lt. Guy Galon, who is the charge of the valley homicide bureau, it was a collaborative effort. He claimed that the lead investigator in the Woodland Hills murder case, Det. Sharon Kim, never gave up on finding the murderer.
Galon stated that although they have not yet connected Escamilla to any other murders, they have given local law enforcement agencies his details and his fairly general M.O. to investigate potential criminal involvement.
California
According to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, officers who responded to two different 911 calls about violent attacks did not go right into the areas where the victims who had been killed were later discovered.
Escamilla is additionally accused of brutally murdering a man in Valley Village earlier this year.
Escamilla allegedly broke into a nearby apartment, sprang from the balcony to Menashe Hidra’s, and attacked him, according to investigators. Hidra’s body was discovered inside his fifth-floor Valley Village apartment in late April.
Neighbors had called 911 three days earlier to report hearing a scuffle and shouting coming from the flat. After answering the calls, officers knocked on the door and departed without discovering anything.
After a friend expressed concern, cops doing a welfare check found Hidra’s death inside his top-floor apartment at the Ashton Sherman Village complex. At the scene, Hidra was declared deceased.
A police dispatch call recorded prior to 4 a.m. on April 23 shows a dispatcher informing field officers that Van Nuys units are responding to a probable ADW (attack with a deadly weapon) in progress. The caller can hear two males fighting, wrestling, banging, and yelling.
According to a number of law enforcement sources, cops arrived at the site but did not go inside the residence.
Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department looked into a break-in at the empty apartment next door the day before Hidra’s death was found. According to two people who are not authorized to discuss the inquiry, officers discovered dried blood and a broken skylight inside.
Investigators believe the murderer may have entered the empty flat next to Hidra’s through a skylight before moving from the balcony of that apartment to his own. After declaring that there was no evidence of forcible entry into Hidra’s flat, Chief Jim McDonnell declared an internal investigation into how the initial reactions were handled.
After footage purportedly showing Escamilla stalking the apartment complex’s hallways both before and after the murder went viral, patrol officers and social media users dubbed him “The Valley Village killer.” Escamilla was eventually arrested at a hospital in West Hills.
According to McDonnell, Escamilla had alternated between sleeping on the streets and residing at his mother’s house in the West Valley, leading to an unstable life. According to authorities, he was sentenced to two years in jail for his 2019 burglary conviction.
Before the most recent accusations, Escamilla was free on $10,000 bail after being charged with misdemeanors related to a February incident in the San Fernando Valley, which included trespassing, entering a noncommercial dwelling, and resisting arrest. He had already been taken into custody by San Fernando police in December.
The management of the apartment complex has filed a cross-claim against the LAPD, while Hidra’s family has sued the building’s owners.
In the wake of the incident, McDonnell stated that he expected officers to talk to neighbors to get more information before making a call. Due to the increase in “swatting calls,” a dangerous prank in which people fabricate reports of violence in an attempt to trigger a large emergency response, he stated that police cannot rush into every home.
When a reporter visited with locals last week, they noticed bloody handprints and stains on the wall between Hidra’s balcony and the empty flat. In a police-released video, the attacker was seen running from the building, and blood was also spotted on the door handle of a stairway exit.
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